 Exploring Beth El Aish Thank you for entering my page! Right now, you are probably searching to find out more about Jewish beliefs in Jesus. Perhaps, you are questioning your faith, and are looking at different options. Beth El Aish is a Messianic Jewish congregation in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. There is only one problem, namely, that it is not a Jewish group at all! I will review the organization, providing links to the proofs each time, demonstrating that they are not a Jewish group at all!The Name Just by their name alone, it is clear that Beth El Aish is not a Jewish group. Why is their name such a problem? If we translate their name, we have the following: Beth=House El=G-d Aish=Fire. It seems like they are trying to say "House of G-d's Fire." Unfortunately, their grammar is poor, and what they have actually said is "House of the Fire G-d." Obviously, Jews do not worship a fire god, though fire gods are quite common in pagan faiths. If they wanted to say "House of G-d's Fire", they would need to reverse the words "El" and "Aish." Would a real Jewish group make this type of mistake? Never! The Mikveh Beth El Aish has photos of their community, including their "elder" (Editor's note: This title does not exist today in Jewish communities, but it is a common position at churches) using their lake as a mikveh, a bath for Jewish ritual purity. If you look at the photos, there are numerous mistakes in their behaviors. In each time, we see that the people are fully clothed. To properly use a mikveh, the water must reach every part of the body. That is why that at a real Jewish mikveh, the person is either naked or wears a loose-fitting gown that the water can easily travel under. In their pictures they have people fully-dressed, an error a real Jewish group would never make. That is the first problem. The second problem is in the last of their photos, not only is the person fully clothed, but the man is wearing a Tallit in the mikveh! You would NEVER wear a Tallit in a mikveh, particularly if you are using a natural body of water as your mikveh! First, wearing a tallit over clothing in the mikveh further makes it likely that the water will not reach the entire body, and nulify the entire purpose of a mikveh. Second, and more importantly, what do you think happens when you dip a tallit in water, particularly lake water....well, you potentially ruin the tallit! Moreover, on at least a temporary basis, you make a holy object, a tallit, incredibly disgusting. The water in their lake is clearly green. Have you ever smelled green lake water? It smells terribly, so you end up with a smelly tallit that has green muck on it! That is completely counter to what a real Jewish group would consider appropriate! A real Jewish group would never make this error! Here is the link to the proof that they made these errors:
Click Here About Them Beth El Aish makes several errors in their set of beliefs in their "About Us" section, demonstrating that they cannot be Jewish! They state: "It is our desire to share with all men the love, forgiveness, and salvation G-d has provided for us through our Messiah." This is an interesting statement, though entirely Christian in its beliefs. If you look at the Jewish Bible, you will see that the Messiah is not sent to provide love or forgiveness! Moreover, salvation is not used in Judaism to refer to a removal of sin, only Christians use the term to mean this. Salvation in Judaism is a physical salvation, a saving from those that try to hurt us. A real Jewish group would use the term redemption or atonement, as the Jewish Bible uses, to refer to removal of sin or protection of someone's soul. Beth El Aish also states:
"We are commisioned by G-d to teach Biblical truths. This includes instructing churches in Davidic Dance and celebrating the feasts of G-d (Psalms 119:111-112)."
So what is the error? First, there is no such thing as a command to instruct anyone on dancing. Secondly, let's look at how David danced in the Bible. If you look at Samuel II, 6: 14-20, we see that David danced and leaped, to the point that he accidently exposed his genitals while dancing. That is what we know about "Davidic dance". Now, I could be wrong, but I doubt that Beth El Aish is teaching people to dance to the point that they show their genitals! Perhaps they are teaching Jewish folk dancing, but certainly, unless they are dancing and leaping to the point that they are exposing their genitals, they are not actually doing the dance that David did. Lastly, they state: "We desire that all men worship the one true living G-d, the G-d of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob. We know that G-d will, one day soon, bring Jew and Gentile, Ephraim and Judah, together to worship Him in spirit and in truth. (Ezek 37:15-23)."
What a beautiful statement! Jew and Gentile, Ephraim and Judah, will come together! So what is the error? Well, the verses in Ezekiel have nothing to do with gentiles! On a historical level, the ancient Jewish empire broke into two countries after King Solomon's death. Judah was the Southern Jewish nation and Israel was the Northern nation. Ephraim was the most dominant tribe of the northern country, hence, the northern country was often referred to as Ephraim. If you read the actual verses in the Bible, it is even more clear that Ephraim is referring to Israel: "15 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying: 16 'And thou, son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it: For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions; then take another stick, and write upon it: For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and of all the house of Israel his companions; 17 and join them for thee one to another into one stick, that they may become one in thy hand. 18 And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying: Wilt thou not tell us what thou meanest by these? 19 say into them: Thus saith the Lord GOD: Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his companions; and I will put them unto him together with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in My hand. 20 And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thy hand before their eyes. 21 And say unto them: Thus saith the Lord GOD: Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, whither they are gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land; 22 and I will make them one nation in the land, upon the mountains of Israel, and one king shall be king to them all; and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all; 23 neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions; but I will save them out of all their dwelling-places, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them; so shall they be My people, and I will be their God.
So, as you can see, particularly in the highlighted verse, verse 22, that this part of the Bible talks of the re-unification of the Jewish people under as one nation, and has nothing to do with anyone who is not Jewish! A real Jewish group would never make such errors. Here is the link to see that they actually made these error-filled statements, the quotes come from the 3rd, 4th and 6th paragraphs:
Click Here Definitional Error In their description of their services, they make errors that a real Jewish group would never make. They claim "Minyan
Before our service begins, the men gather in a seperate room to pray. We pray for the service. Minyan is a Hebrew word meaning 'ten' and Jewish tradition holds that ten or more men must gather to pray before a service can begin. Yeshua HaMashiach, Jesus the Messiah, told us, "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." (Matthew 18:20) Therefore, we always have Minyan and we always have prayer before each service."
So what is the error? Well, simply put, the concept of minyan means that to say certain prayers you need ten men (or ten adults, depending on whether the service counts women). You do not need a minyan to start a service. If you do not have a minyan, you just have to skip certain parts (such as the Kaddish). Also, a minyan does not need to pray separately before the service begins. As already stated, you do not need to have a minyan to start praying. Secondly, even when you have a minyan, the minyan would never pray separately from the group! A real Jewish group would never do this! Here is the link to the proof that they said this, the minyan quote is from the first paragraph:
Click Here
Why Jews Don't Believe in Jesus There are many reasons why Jews do not accept Jesus, and the links below are some of the better explanations on this topic. Of course, if you have questions that are not covered on the links, you can always e-mail me with your questions. An Answer from Rabbi Stuart Federow Click Here
An Answer from Rabbi Shraga Simmons Click Here Ask the Rabbi from Ohr Somayach Click Here An Answer from Rabbi Tovia Singer Click Here Countermissionary Counseling
There are a number of groups that provide Countermissionary Counseling. Here are links to a few of them:
Jews for Judaism Alternatively, you can call them at 1-800-4PROOF1 with general questions about missionary claims.
Torah Atlanta
Outreach Judaism
Torah Life and Living Great Sites, Priceless Information
Here are a number of great sites that counter missionaries and explain the differences in belief between Judaism and Christianity, including addressing the Biblical verses that missionaries try to use against the Jews and explaining why the missionaries are incorrect. For the most in-depth analysis of verse by verse questions, go to Messiah Truth (sections on Counter-Missionary: Multi-media training [this can be read without being "multi-media"], Knowing Your Orchard and Judaism's Answer), Jews for Judaism (in their Reference Section (please note that the Isaiah topics tend to be under "Suffering Servant" part of the "Proof Text" section) and the Q & A section of Outreach Judaism. Messiah Page Messiah Truth Jews for Judaism Outreach Judaism Counter Missionary Reference Torah Atlanta Messianic Verses in Tanach Kosher Judaism Escape From Counterfeit Judaism Talking to Kids About Missionaries
|